The reigning champions of the Bilbao Night Running Fest will once again line up at the starting line this Saturday at San Mamés, ready to repeat their victory. Fernando Carro, who last year prevailed in 29:17 minutes, will also look to lower the course record up to the Museo Guggenheim, and Elena Loyo will attempt to improve her mark from the last edition of 33:54.
Neither the Madrilenian nor the Basque runner will have it easy, as this year they will race against top-level rivals who are as big favorites as they are to win in a 10-kilometer event that will feature almost 12,000 runners, who will be joined by another 15,000 in the half marathon, shattering the participation record as the center of Bilbao comes alive from seven in the evening.
Carro will face the Extremaduran Jorge González, a two-time Spanish champion in the half marathon and the best (14th) of the national team in last year’s European marathon in Birmingham, and Àdam Maijó, a top-8 nationally in both 3,000 and 5,000 meters this season.
The Madrilenian, runner-up of the European 3,000 m steeplechase in 2018, has debuted in the marathon under 2 hours 10 minutes and competed in this year’s European Championships in Birmingham, and has an official 10K best of 28:18. Jorge González improved his record to 28:36 last winter in Camargo and Adam Maijó has the best time of all, with 28:04 in Valencia’s last 10K, so the clash promises to be tight.
Elena Loyo, who at 43 years old continues to prove that she is among the elite with top placings at Azkoitia-Azpeitia and still goes under 34 minutes in the 10K, will share the pace with Fátima Ouhaddou, a two-time national half marathon champion and winner of the Brussels-Louvain European Road Marathon in the spring of 2025, and with Lidia Campo, Spain’s 10K champion two seasons ago.
Ouhaddou, who comes off a 15th place in the Birmingham marathon, owns a 32:52 official time this year and a 32:01 at the San Silvestre Vallecana, while Campo arrives in form after winning last Sunday’s Medio Maratón de Tordesillas and after last winter lowering her 10K best to 32:20. Both arrive ready to challenge the record of the Moroccan Wafa Zaroual in 2023 with 33:24.
The Zurich winner comes to win the Bilbao Night Run half marathon
In the half marathon, the two main favourites for victory are the Kenyan Brian Kipchumba (1h00:37 achieved this year in Belgium), winner of the Zurich Half Marathon last spring, and the Ugandan Feb Chelegoi (1h00:42), an athlete who comes from track and posted his best mark a year ago at the Rome Half Marathon. Also not to be discounted are Ugandan Killo Kipyeko (1h01:09 this summer in Buenos Aires), Kenyan Evans Kipkorir (1h01:47 this season in the Netherlands) and three debutants at the distance, the Ugandan Deogracius Musobo (27:59 in the 10K), Eritrean Simon Mebrahtu Welday (28:43) and the 19-year-old Ethiopian Alemayehu Mulate Teshager.
In the women’s category, the standout mark comes from Ethiopian Diniya Kedir Abaraya (1h06:28 in February in Barcelona), who has notably improved her performances since finishing third last year at the Bilbao Night Running Fest, and who will face the Kenyans Sharon Jerono Kiptugen (1h08:54 in 2024), Winsam Jerono (1h10:30 a month ago) and Selly Chelang’at Cheshari (1h11:12 on her debut this year), along with Ethiopian Ararse Tolosa Bekuma, who makes her debut at the distance.
The Bilbao Night Run, with a 41% women and a 53% of runners under 35 among its 27,000 participants, is part of World Athletics’ global road racing circuit, among other things due to its elite level, as demonstrated by the entry list for the 2026 edition that will turn the Basque capital into a night-time celebration on Saturday.
